


The one most likely at your side

by trinipedia



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-10
Updated: 2009-04-10
Packaged: 2018-09-14 12:06:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9180733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trinipedia/pseuds/trinipedia
Summary: I Wanna Learn All Your Lips Can Teach Me, One Kiss Will Do At The Start: I'm Sure That, With A Little Homework, I'll Graduate To Your Heart.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the challenge over at [](http://j2-everafter.livejournal.com/profile)[j2_everafter](http://j2-everafter.livejournal.com/), (vaguely) based on the Disney movie Teacher's Pet. To be honest, I have to admit I tried watching both the tv series and the movie in question, but they suck. Therefore, I took the basic idea and did my thing starting from there. Hopefully, y'all like it.
> 
> **Disclaimers:** as I said, fic loosely inspired by the Disney animated tv series/movie "Teacher's Pet". Title, summary and cut text are taken from the theme song of the series, sang by Christy Carlson Romano. Oh, btw: the university, the courses and the shop do exist in Los Angeles. I researched. *feels proud of self*
> 
> **Further disclaimers and thanks:** this fic has been a group effort, LOL  
>  The lovely icon is made by [ burning_phoenix ](http://burning-phoenix.livejournal.com/), the pictures of Jensen and Paddywhack are manipulated by my headcheerleader [ hay1ock ](http://hay1ock.livejournal.com/), that I also thank (as usual) for unrelenting support and handholding, and finally the banner has been made by the amazing, wonderful, incredibly talented [ ade_sparrow ](http://ade-sparrow.livejournal.com/) that I love dearly (even if she's an honest to God pain in the ass XD). Actually, I love her so much that even if I had already made a banner, I’d have picked her’s over mine.
> 
> _Assistant!Jensen: you picked hers because it was great and yours sucked._  
>  _Trini:....shut up._
> 
> **Final note:** I know Supernatural is on Thursday...but in my fic, it's on Friday. Suck it up, bitches.

  
  
  
  
He slowly opens his eyes, the whirring noise waking him up as it has done every morning since he arrived in town.  
  
"Good morning!" the Guy greets him entering from the front door, bringing light with him.  
  
He doesn't answer, though. He's not sleeping well, lately, he doesn't like the place, how it smells, the sounds around him.  
  
He doesn't like being alone.  
  
Oh, the Guy is friendly enough, but he has many things to worry about and can't stay with him all the time.  
  
Actually, he's not sure he likes the Guy that much; after all, he's the one that forced him in here, he's the one that doesn't let him out ever, not even to pee, and he feels so embarrassed at having to do everything where anyone could see him.  
  
Still, the sad truth is that no one looks at him.  
  
No one cares about him, or looks at his eyes pleading for help.  
  
He sighs and tries to fall asleep again (what else can he do?) but the Guy comes closer and taps on the wall. "Cheer up, kid! Today is _the day_. He's going to come for you."  
  
Those few words are enough for him to jump up, the idea of sleeping completely forgotten.  
Because, you see, when we said that no one cares for him, we lied. There is someone..  
  
***  
  
Jensen Ackles' life sucks.  
  
No, really, there's no other way of saying it.  
  
And he's still trying to understand how the hell that happened. He's a young fella from Dallas, Texas and his only dream was being a businessman. Obviously, that was not what his family wanted for him; they've been teachers, all of them and they pushed for him to go down that road too.  
  
Jensen had always been a reasonable guy but didn't want to give up his dream, so he hung on and succeeded in finding himself a job as the administrator of an oil company. Everything went well until he met reporter, Danneel Harris.  
  
Now, Danneel was one of the prettiest girls he had ever seen.  
  
She was not from around there and she was not supposed to stay but then they met. It was rainbows and butterflies, it was laughter and sunshine, it was love. Pure and unadultered love. Or at least, so they thought.  
  
They dated for almost a year before he popped the question and when he did she jumped in his arms and they didn't get out of bed for three days.  
  
Then months passed by and Danneeel started to get restless. The city was not enough, neither was the money Jensen brought home. The weather was too warm, the people too friendly.  
She wanted more.  
  
She wanted Los Angeles.  
  
At the beginning Jensen tried to reason with her, but there had been no chance. She reminded him she was a reporter, she was _good_ at it too and she had given it up for him. She could have gone back to work immediately, if she had been in a city like LA, but in Dallas none of the local papers were keen about hiring a redhead whose only experience was writing beauty and cosmetic articles for a fashion magazine.  
  
So, in the end Jensen gave up.  
  
He left a job he loved and the city he always called home to move to Los Angeles with Danneel.  
  
She had lots of contacts and quickly obtained a job at 944, one of the most famous fashion magazines around, while Jensen, making his parents indescribably happy, applied for a teaching position at Pacific State University.  
  
They hired him as the Business Administration Professor, and again, everything was ok for a while.  
  
Jensen wasn't truly happy: he was pretty shy, and it was hard for him to make friends, but at least he had Danneel. She was by his side to support him, and as long as he would have had her, he wouldn't ever have to feel alone.  
  
***  
  
"Jen, it’s over."  
  
Jensen blinks a couple of times. "Come again?" He says, stunned. His wife ( _ex wife?_ He thinks, still in shock) shrugs.  
  
"Oh, come on, I know you feel the same way," she adds, waving a hand dismissively. "We were never truly lovers, anyway. More like best friends."  
  
Jensen would like to point out that he never spanked any of his friends while they screamed _ride me harder, cowboy_ , but in the end he decides it's better to keep his mouth shout.  
He doesn't want to get in a fight.  
  
Jensen hates fighting with Danneel; her face gets red, her cheeks puff out and she looks like a fish he once saw when he was a kid and his dad took him to the aquarium, the type of fish that when something's threatening it inflates and becomes twice its size.  
  
He snorts at the comparison, then he remembers they're having a serious conversation and hides it behind a fake cough.  
  
Danneel narrows her eyes. "Anyway," she goes on, "I'm going to stay at Genevieve's house, do you remember her? My friend from the love column?"  
  
"I sure do" he answers.  
  
_She's the bitch that threw herself at me all night at the magazine's Christmas party. I never told you because you consider her your best friend._  
  
"She has a spare room and told me I can stay there for as long as I need it. I'll send someone to pick up my stuff in the next couple of days." Danneel stands and walks up to him, on the other side of the kitchen table. "It was never going to work."  
  
This time, Jensen **has** to answer. "How can you say that?" He hisses. "After you forced me to leave my family, my friends, the life I wanted to lead, the one I fought for, saying that if I loved you I was supposed to do it without complaining? How can you say we're friends, after everything we've been through? I can't believe you!" Only when he stops talking he realizes he's been screaming.  
  
Danneel looks blown away, then blinks and slowly shakes her head. "I guess you just need some time to digest this. We'll talk again once you've calmed down." She moves towards him, as if to maybe hug him or kiss him but the deathly glare Jensen sends her way stops her in her tracks. "Ok, well, I will call you then."  
  
Those are the last words he hears before she walks out of their house door and of Jensen's life.  
  
Her heels on the floor and the door closing are the last sounds reaching his ears before the tears start falling, once he realizes he doesn't even have a friend to call for comfort.  
  
As we were saying, Jensen Ackles' life sucks.  
  
***  
  
"Lighten up, Ackles! Life goes on!" Christian Kane, Information Systems' Professor, exclaims while sitting next to him in the teachers lounge.  
  
Jensen offers him a half-hearted smile. "Sorry" he says, before standing up and leaving the room.  
  
Christian's eyes are open wide and he looks quizzically at the other professor in the room, Michael Rosenbaum, who teaches Computer Science, receiving an equally confused look and a shrug.  
  
"What crawled up his ass and died?" Chris mumbles.  
  
"Dunno, man." Michael answers, getting a cup of coffee from the machine. "He's been like that the last few days. Although we never spoke much, guy looks at me like I'm the devil or something..."  
  
Chris chuckles.  
  
Michael is ok, but you'd have to get close enough to him to discover it, and not a lot of people feel like getting close to him; Michael wears bizarre clothing, shaves his head and never takes off his sunglasses, not even in class.  
  
Lot of freshmen wonder why he's even teaching, until they start his course and discover he's a fucking genius. He's also there for them, giving all the help he can possibly give, to everyone, not only his students.  
But Jensen doesn't know any of this, because he's scared shitless of the man and his weird attitude.  
  
Christian arches an eyebrow at the green shirt and purple sequins pants Michael is wearing but doesn't comment. "Don't know. I think Jensen's just shy; something's going on with him lately, though, maybe I should investigate."  
  
"Leave the poor boy alone!" Michael says.  
  
Christian, as a fellow Texan, has tried to be Jensen's friend since day one, receiving in exchange bare tolerance. It's actually because Jensen thinks Christian is way too cool to hang out with him and does it just out of a sense of duty, but then again, Chris doesn't know this and he can be a little too... _friendly_ sometimes. Michael is afraid he'd scare Jensen away if he started to impose his friendship.  
  
"I think you should just give Ackles the time to adjust," Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Computer Information System's Professor, argues entering the room. "He'll get in the gang when he's ready for it."  
  
Chris and Michael look at each other and in the end they nod. Jeffrey's the oldest, he's the one who always knows the right thing to say, so they'd better listen to him.  
  
They just hope it won't take Jensen too long, though: guy only has his wife, and it can't be healthy.  
  
***  
  
After his last class, Jensen always walks home. It's something he used to do back in Dallas, a way to disconnect from the job and get back into his own headspace, and lately he needs it more than ever.  
  
A week has passed by and Danneel's stuff is all gone by now. If he thought at the beginning that it was just a phase and she would come around, now he's pretty sure she won't. Some part of him is even relieved, but he's still not ready to analyze it.  
  
His steps are slower than usual, anyway, and he stops every now and then to look into some window, not really interested in what the shops sell, but desiring to postpone the moment he'll be all alone in his house as much as possible. He still dreads that.  
  
Only one stop is the same one he does every day: the pet shop around the corner, the one with the pompous name _Pets R Us_.  
  
The owner, a short balding man with a mad grin always painted on his face, scares him a little, but is not for him he stops at the window everyday.  
  
It's someone else, the same someone that looks up as soon as he steps closer to the glass and starts waggling his little tail, lapping his hand from behind the glass.  
  
Jensen feels something clenching in his chest.  
The puppy is light yellow, like cream, and his eyes are so big and expressive that sometimes Jensen wonders if he can see deep inside of him with them.  
  
He sighs, lightly tapping the glass and getting a friendly yap as an answer. He always thought that, when he was going to create his own little family, he was going to have a wife, two kids and a dog; however, Danneel burnt his house of dreams to the ground pretty quickly, telling him dead on that she hated animals (she didn't really like kids that much either, but Jensen knew she was gonna grow into that sooner or later).  
  
Now he's almost happy they didn't get any, though, because the dog was probably going to be crushed as well once she left.  
  
"He's a wonderful specimen of Labrador Retriever."  
  
Jensen jumps: he didn't realize the owner of the shop had come outside and gotten so closer to him while he was lost in thoughts.  
  
"He's beautiful," he answers, giving the man a smile that comes out more as a grimace. "What's his name?"  
  
The man shakes his head.  
  
"He doesn't have one. It would be cruel, don't you think? Giving him a name means he's part of your life and he's not supposed to be here long. Even if..." the man sighs, capturing all of Jensen's attention.  
  
"Even if- _what?_ "  
  
The man shrugs. "Oh, I'm thinking about sending him back." He answers, "he's been here for almost two months now, a couple more weeks and he won't be a puppy anymore; when that happens, who'll want him?"  
  
The clenching at Jensen's chest gets tighter, and he looks at the puppy.  
  
He's looking back, so much faith and hope in those dark brown orbs that he almost wishes he could-  
  
Wait a second.  
  
He _can_.  
  
Danneel is not part of his life anymore, and she was the only reason he didn't have an animal.  
Jensen thinks about his empty and cold house, and the choice is made. "How much?"  
  
The man's smile softens up and suddenly Jensen wonders what he had been scared of. "He should be 450, but since, as I told you, he's not a puppy anymore, you can have him for 400."  
  
"I'll take him."  
  
***  
  
He came! His human came to see him!  
  
He keeps waggling his tail, hoping he will come inside the shop, this time, he will caress his fur, maybe even take him in his arms.  
  
He wants to warm him up, to lick his cheek and make him laugh. He has been so sad lately it's breaking his little heart.  
  
Today the Guy goes out to talk to him, and he looks even sadder.  
  
He yaps, mad at the Guy. What is he saying? Doesn't he realize he's making his human sad? He hit the glass with a paw, and it seems to call his attention and he looks at him again.  
Their eyes are locked for a long moment, then he turns towards the Guy. The Guy smiles and they shake hands.  
  
He looks a little better now, and then- _he enters. And walks straight towards him._  
  
He bends over his cage and smiles at him. It's the first time he sees his human's smile without the glass in between them, and he seems...happy? There's a warmth on his face he's never seen.  
  
"Hi there, little fella," his human says. His voice is velvety like the cushion he sleeps on.  
A large hand drops on his head and immediately starts scratching behind his ears. He growls in satisfaction. "Listen, I have a proposition for you," the human adds, and he yaps.  
"Would you like to come home with me?"  
  
His eyes open wide and he looks at the Guy, who smiles encouragingly and nods.  
  
Everything is a little blurry, after that. He recalls jumping in his human's arms, yapping enthusiastically, and he recalls licking his cheek for real.  
  
He did laugh, and the sound showered over him.  
  
Everything had been exactly as the Guy described it.  
  
_"When your human will find you, you'll know. It's a unique sensation, it's impossible to confuse with anything else."_  
  
His human talked with the Guy some more, never stopping caressing his fur, he picked up supplies and then he took him away.  
  
He tried to get down, he could walk and didn't want to tire his human, but his grip got tighter and he said "I've got you," so he simply relaxed in his arms.  
  
The movement made him sleepy, and he closed his eyes to finally rest, now that he felt at home; he fell asleep while the Guy was still waving at them from the entrance of the shop.  
  
***  
  
[](http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e187/marty_rurulove/?action=view&current=matty2.jpg)

[](http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e187/marty_rurulove/?action=view&current=matty2.jpg)

When Jensen arrives home, the puppy is snoring softly in his arms and he can't help smiling at him.  
  
He was so darn happy when Jensen said he was taking him home, it looked like he was waiting for him to go and get him.  
  
Jensen shakes his head, chuckling. That's ridiculous.  
  
As soon as he leaves him on the carpet, the puppy wakes up, yawning. He looks a little confused for a second, then he sees him and in a second he's up, bouncing around him and yapping.  
  
Jensen laughs and sits on the floor next to him.  
  
He takes the collar out of the shop's bag: is a simple turquoise leather strip, and he clasps it around the puppy's neck. "We will have the tag made with the address tomorrow," he tells the puppy, that rolls on his back so that he can scratch his belly.  
  
"My, my, you're a cuddler," Jensen says, complying. "Now, about the name. Uhm."  
  
While scratching the puppy's belly, he thinks. A lot of common dog's names come to mind: Max, Buddy, Astro, Bobby...none of them seem the right one.  
  
Huffing, he stands up and goes to the kitchen to get some dinner ready, still thinking about possible names. His concentration is broken by the sound of _thuds_ coming from the living room, so he runs over there. The puppy somehow got the shopping bag off the table and is happily munching on one of the packages of dried meat he bought for him.  
  
"No! Bad puppy!" He exclaims, snatching the packaging away.  
  
The puppy steps back immediately, head and tail low, and yelps softly. Jensen feels bad for scaring him. "It's ok, it's ok, puppy, don't worry." he steps closer and scratches the puppy behind the ears that slowly come back up.  
  
He looks at the bag and sees all the others packaging inside, untouched. Then he looks closely at the one he has in his hands: the plastic is all munched, and there's dog drool on it.  
  
The label is still visible, though: _Beef Paddy Whack._  
  
Jensen drops it and laughs, picking the puppy up.  
  
"That's your name, little twister," he states. "You're Paddywhack."  
  
He holds him tight against his chest, ignoring the couple of tears that escape his eyes and get lost in the puppy's fur.  
  
"My Paddywhack."  
  
Jensen looks in the puppy's eyes. "And you'll never leave me, right?"  
  
The dog yelps, but then he licks his nose and snuggles closer, like he's agreeing.  
  
***  
  
The days pass by and Paddywhack does everything he can to make his human happy. Really, everything.  
  
He even humors him by chasing after the ball when he throws it.  
  
And still...still, his human is unhappy.  
  
He wakes up early, works out in the gym, showers, has breakfast and goes to work.  
  
Immediately after work he comes home, takes him out for a short walk, eats dinner and then they watch something or listen to music lying on the couch before going to bed. And the following day, it starts all over again.  
  
Very often they watch episodes of a scary show his human seems to enjoy greatly about two humans fighting monsters.  
  
A few nights before, the humans got stuck in time, and had to relive the same day again and again, always the same. Every time they tried to change something, it didn't end well.  
  
Paddywhack didn't sleep that night, terrified at the thought that his human was going through the same thing, destined to repeat the same day eternally without even realizing it, but the morning after his human woke up strangely late and instead of working out in his gym he went to pick him up and they jogged around the neighborhood for a great part of the morning.  
  
The puppy was immensely relieved knowing that everything was ok, and the day after was equally serene and different, but his human was still sad, and then they were back to the same routine; he has to do something.  
  
The opportunity arises the day after, when his human forgets to close the big window in the living room and Paddywhack succeeds in getting out.  
  
At first he's a little confused by all the smells, noises and things around him, but then he focuses on his human's smell and starts to follow it along the road.  
  
There's only one person that can help him.  
  
***  
  
The bell chimes.  
  
"Welcome-oh! Hi there, puppy!"  
  
The Guy smiles warmly at Paddywhack, and bends to pet him, but the puppy yaps nervously and the Guy arches an eyebrow. "Something's wrong?"  
Paddywhack starts explaining to him that his human is sad, and he can't make it better, and maybe he's stuck repeating the same day over and over, apart from a couple of day in between, and he's worried, and-  
  
"Woah, woah, easy, tiger!" the Guy stops him. "I don't understand a thing, dude, you're a _dog_!" He scratches his chin pensively, then his eyes brighten up. "Come with me," he says and leads him in a back room. He looks right and left, then takes out a really small key and opens a cabinet. Inside, there's a thin metal ring.  
  
The Guy sighs. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, after all," he says, taking off Paddywhack's collar and inserting the ring in it.  
  
He places the puppy in the center of the room and clasps the collar back around his neck.  
"Now, bark" he orders, after he turned off the light.  
  
Paddywhack obeys, and something happens. His body slides, his legs get longer, his skin hitches and then suddenly as it came it's gone. The puppy shakes his head and something slaps his cheeks. Surprised, he tries to wrinkle his nose, but for some strange reason he can't, and he realizes it’s dry. His nose his dry! He gets his tongue out to lick it and wet it again but... _his tongue doesn't reach his nose anymore!_  
  
Paddywhack starts to hyperventilate. He yelps desperately. "Woof!"  
  
"Hey, hey, calm down," the Guy says, sitting down next to him and scratching him behind his ear. The puppy tries to relax, but the moment is broken as soon as he feels that his ears aren't on the top of his head anymore.  
  
He starts to shiver and keeps yelping, even if he doesn't recognize the sounds he's making.  
"Paddywhack, listen to me, dammit!" The Guy's voice sounds like an order, and the force of habit is stronger than fear, so the puppy settles down as much as he can.  
  
"Better," the Guy praises him. "Now, listen. I know that you feel strange, and it will be hard for you to understand, but...you're not a puppy anymore."  
  
The puppy makes an interrogative sound.  
  
"You have a problem and I couldn't understand you, so I used a little something I keep hidden here for the right moment. Guess the right moment's now."  
  
The Guy grabs one of his paws and puts it against the puppy's cheek. The puppy jumps back, yelping terrified: His paw is slick, no fur, and is so much bigger than before!  
  
Once he's out of the Guy's reach, he lifts both trembling paws to his face and starts exploring.  
His muzzle is all plain and oval, now, and feels like there's no fur on his body, save from the top of his head and- _oh._  
  
He can't see anything, though, so he doesn't really understand what happened to him, therefore he starts to whine, stopping abruptly as soon as he hears himself.  
  
"There's a reason why I turned off the light, Paddywhack" the Guy, that has been quiet during his self discovery, explains.  
  
"As a puppy you saw the world differently than how you're gonna see it now, and I wanted you to be prepared." The Guy takes a deep breath.  
  
"Here we go" he says, and turns on the light.  
  
Paddywhack is blinded by it for a moment, then his eyes start slowly to adjust and as soon as they do his terror grows. Everything's different, everything is brighter, things are-  
  
"Things are _colored_ , Paddywhack. Dogs can't see colors." The Guy says, grabbing some of his head fur and pulling it in front of his eyes. It’s long and dark.  
  
"That's brown, dark brown. This," he picks a shirt from a chair nearby, "this is yellow."  
Paddywhack looks at his paws.  
  
"And those are pink. That's the colour of the skin." The puppy's eyes widen at the sudden realization. "Yeah, puppy, congrats. You're a human now."  
  
His first human reaction is fainting.  
  
***  
  
When Paddywhack opens his eyes again, he's still on the back room's floor, alone. A quick check up reveals that no, he wasn't dreaming. The Guy really transformed him into a human.  
He stumbles a little and gets up to stand on his four paws, moving up and down the room, thinking. What is he supposed to do now?  
  
First thing is _stop moving_ , since his back paws hurt. What's wrong with them?!  
He yelps in frustration, and the Guy comes immediately in.  
  
"Oh, no! Damn, Paddywhack, you're not a dog anymore! Men don't walk on their knees! Here, let me help you." The Guy grabs one of his front legs and pulls him up.  
  
His back legs tremble slightly, but they hang on. Paddywhack looks around again: he's _tall._ Way taller than the Guy, and he has to look down to meet his eyes.  
  
The Guy chuckles. "Yeah, you're a real gigantor," he says, "I should have imagined it looking at your...paws." He looks somewhere else, while talking, and Paddywhack tries waggling his tail, but he doesn't feel it anymore. Something else wiggles, though, and he finds it funny so he wiggles it some more.  
  
The Guy rolls his eyes. "Stop it! Humans don't go around waggling their- _thing_. Here, let me help you put these on."  
  
He offers the _yellow_ shirt to Paddywhack and some other item of clothing the puppy has seen his human wear on his back legs. It's not easy, but in the end they succeed putting both things on, even though Paddywhack feels really uncomfortable.  
  
He yelps again, used to the new sound by now, but the Guy doesn't look pleased.  
  
"Now, as you know, humans talk, they don't bark. So, you have to talk."  
  
Paddywhack blinks a couple of times, confused, and the Guy sighs. "Let's start easy. What's your name?"  
  
The puppy barks out his name enthusiastically.  
  
"...right. Now, try to say it like I say it. Paddywhack."  
  
The puppy takes a deep breath and croaks " _Padi-uak._ "  
  
This time the Guy smiles. "Better. I suppose you've been listening to Jensen speak-" Paddywhack arches an eyebrow. "Your human. Jensen."  
  
So that's his name.  
  
" _Yen-zen_." he repeats slowly. He likes how it sounds.  
  
"Him. He talks to you, right? And you listen to music and watch tv."  
  
Paddywhack nods.  
  
"Perfect.. Try to repeat what you've been hearing. You can talk, you just have to learn how to get what you have in your mind out in words instead of barks."  
  
At the beginning, it’s not easy. He mixes up barks, yelps and broken words, but somehow he succeeds in explaining to the Guy (whose name, apparently, is something like _I-rik_ ) what's going on at home.  
  
"So, Jensen is unhappy and you think he's caught into some kind of-what?"  
  
" _Time-lup_ " he repeats.  
  
"Paddywhack, that's ridiculous, believe me. Jensen simply has a boring life. There's nothing wrong with it."  
  
The puppy grabs I-rik's arms with his paws. " _No, no! Wrong! Yen-zen cry. Yen-zen sad. Yen-zen-_ " he desperately looks for the right word " _-alone. Padi-uak no help. Padi-uak want help._ "  
  
His eyes cloud up and he looks away.  
  
The Guy coughs to catch his attention.  
  
"First of all: _Ouch._ " Paddywhack lets him go immediately, and I-rik rubs his arms.  
"You have to be careful with your strength, boy. Secondarily: ok, do you know why he's sad?"  
  
The puppy think for a moment.  
  
" _Frins_ " he arguments " _Danil._ "  
  
I-rik looks expectantly at him, waiting for him to elaborate.  
  
Paddywhack huffs and tries to explain that Yen-zen doesn't have friends to hang out with, that's one of the reasons why he feels alone. The other is the girl that used to live with him and now she's not there anymore.  
  
" _Pik-ture. Dress big. Cake._ "  
  
I-rik narrows his eyes in concentration. "A picture...a big dress...a cake...oh, wait, was she his wife?"  
  
" _Vife!_ " Paddywhack confirms. " _Yen-zen tell Padi-uak she away. She not back. Yen-zen alone bi-cuz she not there._ "  
  
I-rik nods. "I understand. So, what are you planning to do?" Paddywhack looks lost. He doesn't know. That's what he wanted I-rik to tell him. "Well, if he's sad because he's alone and doesn't have anyone to hang out with, he just needs a friend. I'm afraid we can't do anything about the ex-wife, though."  
  
Paddywhack nods enthusiastically.  
  
" _Frin!_ " then he looks over at the Guy, doubt clear on his face. " _I-rik?_ " he asks.  
I-rik shakes his head.  
  
"No, Paddywhack. You will be his friend."  
  
The puppy looks away, sad again. He tried, but he's obviously not enough. "Hey, look at me" I-rik calls him. When he does, the Guy goes on. "Not as a puppy. You can be a _human_ friend. The ring I put on your collar will make you human every morning, and you'll go back at being a puppy when the sun sets. This way, you can be with Jensen as a human during the day and then be a puppy again before he gets home after work. Obviously, if we want this to work, you'll have to learn a little more about being human, or you'll freak him out. I'll help you, if you want me to."  
  
Paddywhack is so happy that he starts bouncing around I-rik, and then licks his cheek.  
"Eeeewwww! Yuck! That was _disgusting!_ Don't you ever do it again!" And Paddywhack, seeing the man trying to dry up his face, can't help laughing. It’s the first time in his life he does, and it feels good.  
  
"So," I-rik asks, "are we doing this?"  
  
Paddywhack nods fervently.  
  
" _Guess I gotta save your ass for a change,_ " he answers.  
  
I-rik blinks. "What did you say?"  
Paddywhack looks resolutely at him and repeats the sentence.  
  
I-rik looks impressed. "You said it perfectly! Very good!"  
  
" _He say to brother in show,_ " the puppy explains, shrugging.  
  
"Wait. You heard it on a tv show?"  
  
" _Yup._ "  
  
The Guy looks thoughtfully at him. "Bring the DVDs tomorrow. You know, boxes with pictures of people on them, with round discs inside..."  
  
" _I know! Yen-zen has._ "  
  
I-rik smiles at Paddywhack and scratches him behind his ear. "You're a good puppy."  
  
" _Love Yen-zen_ " he answers matter-of-factly.  
  
The Guy's expression changes suddenly. "Paddywhack, you know when I said-"  
  
The puppy looks at him expectantly.  
  
I-rik opens and closes his mouth a couple of times, then shrugs. "Nah, it doesn't matter. See you tomorrow. Go home now, you'll be faster if you go as a human, and if I'm not wrong you have more or less half an hour."  
  
Paddywhack would like to lick him, to show his gratitude, but the previous reaction I-rik had discourages him; in the end he settles on nuzzling his neck with his nose. " _Thenk-yu,_ " he mumbles before leaving.  
  
The Guy looks at him walking outside the shop, moving awkwardly his long legs together with the arms, and sighs. It's going to be hard. In more ways than one.  
  
***  
  
Paddywhack walks towards the University building. His paw- _hand_ goes again to his neck, trying to loosen up the collar of his shirt.  
  
He's used to wearing a collar, that's true, but a _shirt_ collar is so different! Besides, he's still not all that used to clothes yet.  
  
While walking, he concentrates on what he's about to do: Eric (not _I-rik_ , apparently, even if Paddywhack still likes it better than the real one) has a friend who works at the University where his human teaches and he got Paddywhack a job in there.  
  
"Working close to him should be enough to start a friendship. Just _don't be too eager._ You're not a puppy anymore, Paddywhack, remember it! Jumping on people is a big no-no."  
Paddywhack had snorted. He knows that, thank you very much.  
He’s gotten so much better at talking and moving (maybe he's a little overexcited and too active for any normal human being, but he's still a dog on the inside, so give him a break!) and now he just has to remember a few things.  
  
For example, that his human's name is Jensen.  
  
_"Jensen. **Jay** -nsen. Not **Yey** -nsen. J. Come on, puppy, repeat."_  
  
Eric told him that there was a good chance they’d meet today and that it's really important Paddywhack get his name right; one of the things that makes humans mad is hearing their name mispronounced.  
  
So, even as he enters the faculty, he keeps repeating the name, and most of all the damn letter that's so hard to pronounce for him, in his mind. He only has one chance of making a first impression.  
  
***  
  
Eric walks up and down in the shop, all nervous on Paddywhack's behalf. Besides, he has the strong sensation they forgot something important, but he can't for the life of him figure out what it is.  
  
Paddywhack was dressed ok, he knew where to go, who to talk to, he knew his future job, and he-  
  
All colour drains from Eric's face as he covers it with his hands.  
  
_Well, shit._  
  
***  
  
"Hey!"  
  
Paddywhack instantly recognizes the voice and has to use all of his willpower to stop his hips wriggling. He turns and flashes the best smile he can manage to his human. They've seen each other only a couple of hours prior, before he left to go to work, and still he has missed him, he always does when they're not together, even if lately he has been well occupied with his _humanizing classes._  
  
The man comes closer and extends a hand towards him. "Hi, my name is Jensen. You looked lost, I thought I'd come and check if you needed help."  
  
_**J** -ensen_, Paddywhack mutely repeats. Sounds so much nicer when it's his human saying it and not Eric. Richer, even.  
  
He expects for the hand to make contact, but Jensen doesn't seem to want to pet him..  
  
Paddywhack gets sad for a split second, before remembering he's not a puppy now, and when a human extends his hands towards you, you should-  
  
He grabs the man's hand with both of his and shakes it vigorously.  
  
Jensen looks like taken aback for a second, and gets his hand free while taking a small step back, his face flushed.  
  
They look at each other expectantly.  
  
"And you are-?" Jensen asks after a few seconds.  
  
"The new _jay_ nitor" Paddywhack answers, putting special emphasis on the letter and feeling strangely proud when he succeeds. He sounds almost like Eric.  
  
"Uh, ok" Jensen says "but I meant, what's your name?"  
  
And right then, Paddywhack freezes. Because _he doesn't have a human name._ Eric and him completely forgot to think about that. Jensen keeps looking at him: he wants an answer, and Paddywhack feels confused and wants to cry, and the only thing in his mind is-  
" _J._ "  
  
Jensen arches an eyebrow. Oh God, maybe that's not a human name. Too short? He tries to focus on anything else than Jensen in front of him so that he can _think_ , but the shirt he wears it's too distracting. It's that bright colour Jensen likes so much, what was its name?  
"Red" he thinks, and then realizes he said it out loud. Nice job, there, Paddywhack..  
"Well, _fudge_ " he mutters.  
  
Jensen's eyes grow wide. "What did you just say?" he asks, blinking.  
  
Paddywhack just knows he's blushing. He can feel his cheeks burn up. "Well, that's... that's what I say when I feel like swearing" he stutters, feeling like a complete idiot, but just when he's about to run away in shame and declare the fail of the whole plan, Jensen lays his head back and starts laughing.  
  
A _real_ laughter, a laughter so deep and unexpected that Jensen doubles over and has to dry actual tears, breath coming out in little pants. When he finally calms down, his eyes are still sparkling and there's an impossibly large smile on his face.  
  
Paddywhack feels all warm and fuzzy inside.  
  
"Oh, man, you almost killed me!" Jensen exclaims, trying to recover his breath. "Well, if you're a Supernatural fan too, you're alright with me. Even if I must tell you, you're _weird_ and your accent is even weirder," he winks at him, to let him know he's joking.  
  
All the awkward tension dissipates, and the atmosphere around them is relaxed and easygoing. Not that Paddywhack would mind; he would accept anything from Jensen right now, as long as that smile stays in place.  
  
"So I've been told," he answers, smiling back.  
  
They simply stay there for a couple more seconds.  
  
"So, Jared?"  
  
Paddywhack looks at his human, a little confused, not recognizing the word. Then he gets it.  
_Jay-red._ Jensen thinks that's his name.  
  
He rolls it around for an instant, weighing it out. He likes it. Still, it's a little too long. He's a dog, he likes simple things. Besides, he could forget it.  
  
"Well, everyone calls me J," he says, and Jensen nods.  
  
"Listen, I have to go now, class starts in five minutes, but maybe we can have lunch in the lounge together? I could introduce you to the other teachers and stuff."  
  
Paddywhack nods enthusiastically, and they part with a friendly pat on the shoulder..  
  
He feels incredibly happy and accomplished, until a hand grabs his shoulder and forces him to turn. He's facing a tall, gangly human with black glasses on his face and no fur on the top of his head (looks like the ass end of Mrs. Gribble's poodle) but a lot of sick-coloured fur around his neck; he’s wearing a dress that goes down to his feet. Paddywhack blinks. Shouldn't men wear-what was the word-pants?  
  
The man looks at him for a second, before chuckling and grasping his hand. "I don't know who you are, man but you have to tell me your secret."  
  
Instantly scared, Paddywhack steps back and starts to sweat. He can't possibly know, now, can he? The man doesn't notice his reaction, though, and goes on. "Because we've spent the last year and a half trying to get a smile from Jensen Ackles, then you come along and not only does he smiles for awhile but he laughs his ass off! Come, on tell me: how did you do it?"  
  
Paddywhack relaxes visibly. "Lots in common," he answers.  
  
The man laughs some more. "I knew Eric was going to send us someone peculiar, but I totally didn't expect something like this! I'm Michael Rosenbaum, I teach Computer Science," he adds, stretching out his hand.  
  
Figures that Eric's friend would be like this.  
  
This time, Paddywhack shakes it in a more normal way, giving him the same speech about his name.  
  
"Jay it is, then," Michael answers, "but only if you call me Mike. Michael makes me feel like I'm an old man."  
  
They end up chatting a little, Mike doing almost all the talking while walking him to the janitor's room so that Paddywhack can get acquainted with the supplies and learn how he's supposed to do his job.  
  
Paddywhack likes the man, even if no human measures up to Jensen.  
The sound of Jensen’s laughter and the brightness of his eyes stay with him while he cleans stairs and windows, and lunchtime can't arrive soon enough..  
  
Not only because he's hungry.  
  
***  
  
"Hey, earthquake!" Jensen calls for him, closing the door behind his back.  
  
Paddywhack runs to him, wriggling his tail like crazy, and as soon as Jensen picks him up he licks his face thoroughly. He has wanted to do it since lunch, when they were eating fries and Jensen had mayonnaise on the tip of his nose.  
  
Luckily, his first human lunch was composed of things he was supposed to eat with his hands; even if Eric tried to teach him how to use cutlery properly, he's still happier if he can get messy eating.  
  
Besides, he’d made Jensen laugh. Again.  
  
"I had the most surprising day today,” Jensen says, bringing Paddywhack’s attention back to home and to his human's fingers scratching him behind his ears. "I met a guy, the new janitor. He's so different from anyone I know, but in a good way."  
  
He looks thoughtful, but the happiness still brightens up his features, so Paddywhack yaps to incite Jensen to tell him more. Jensen chuckles, but goes on. "I mean, we met and then I invited him to have lunch with me! Can you believe it? Chris and Mike have been asking me to eat with them since I moved here, but I always said I like eating alone. Then this guy, Jared, comes along and suddenly I want _him_ around!" He sounds stunned, like he can't understand his own actions. Then, a soft smile appears. "I can't explain it. He just makes me...happy. I know it sounds stupid, but that's it. I want to know him better. Maybe I finally found a friend." His voice gets lower, while he talks about what else happened, and Paddywhack yawns. The day has taken a lot out of him.  
  
He turns his tummy up, to get petted, and closes his eyes, lulled into sleep by his human's warm hands and his even warmer voice.  
  
***  
  
During the following days, they reach some kind of routine.  
  
He wakes up when Jensen does, waits for him to leave and then leaves as well to go to Eric's shop. There he gets changed and goes to work at the faculty. Usually Jensen’s coffee break ends just before his shift starts, so they can have a coffee, and then they meet again for lunch. He leaves the faculty before Jensen, since he has to get to the shop, drop his clothes, transform again and go back home before Jensen arrives.  
  
They still have their Supernatural marathon often, and even if now he usually drops asleep midway through, he knows the episodes by heart and he can still talk with Jensen about them when they meet.  
Their conversations are usually pretty mild. When Jensen asks about his life and family, he tries to be as vague as possible, giving him some real details about his early years without being too specific; he couldn't bear to lie to Jensen, but neither can he tell him the whole truth.  
  
Slowly, Jensen changes.  
  
He gets more open and easygoing; he smiles more and wears brighter colors. All the professors note the change, and Mike even asks him if he's into witchcraft or if he's a Satan adorer.  
  
His confused expression, that turned into an horrified one once Mike explains what he meant makes him the laughing stock of the week.  
  
Obviously, as soon as he gets to the shop, he grills Eric to find out if _he_ is a Satan adorer, but Eric laughs as well and waves his hand dismissively.  
  
"Only thing I see this magic doing is making Jensen happy," he points out, "do you honestly think something like this could be the Devil's doing?"  
  
He has to admit he's right, but still.  
  
As the weekend arrives, Jensen asks him what he's planning to do, and if he would like to drop by his house to have a beer and maybe watch the football game. He answers he already has plans, then asks to leave early and runs to Eric's shop. He storms in waving his hands in the air: he can't transform on Saturday or Sunday morning, it would be a disaster.  
  
"Geez, calm down now, will you? We'll simply take the charm away and you'll be Paddywhack the whole weekend. Come a little earlier on Monday so that you can get used to the transformation again before going to work."  
  
He thanks him profusely, then hops out to go get an ice-cream before getting turned back.  
Eric looks at him bouncing away, a worried frown on his face.  
  
He wonders if the puppy has realized he stopped referring to himself as Paddywhack.  
  
***  
  
Then, one Thursday night, Jensen doesn't come back home.  
  
At the beginning the puppy thinks he stopped at some shop, then he thinks that maybe he went with Chris or Mike to get a drink or something (even if both things are highly improbable), but when midnight comes and goes and then one in the morning strikes, he gets as worried as he can get. He never wanted to be human more than now. If he was human he could call someone, he could look for help...what can he do now?  
  
He gets out the house and starts running to the shop, remembering only half way that Eric's not there. He's out of town for the weekend. He slows down, feeling lost. In the end, he decides to go back to school: that's the last place Jensen's been, he can trace his smell to his new location.  
However, once he gets there, he smells Jensen going in, but not out, and follows it around school, until he gets to one of his classrooms, and-  
  
Jensen is there.  
  
Asleep on his midterm quizzes.  
  
He feels relief wash all over him, and gets closer. One of the pages is stuck on Jensen's left cheek, and he has ink smudges on his fingers. His whole appearance looks peaceful, though, so he doesn't have the heart to wake him up (also considering that, if Jensen found out he can leave the house whenever he wants he'd probably lock it more carefully) and he just lies on the floor, watching over his friend's sleep until he falls asleep too.  
  
***  
  
The first morning light coming through the window wakes him up.  
  
He stands up and realizes two things:  
  
1) He's human.  
2) He's _naked._  
  
He jumps like a spring and sprints towards the janitor's room, where he keeps spare clothes just in case; while getting dressed, he silently thanks any deity he can think of for that.  
Once he's dressed and looks more or less normal, he goes back to the classroom and gently shakes Jensen to wake him up.  
  
Jensen's green eyes are all cloudy and filled with sleep when they open, and Jared can feel his breath catch in his throat.  
  
How can he have never realized how _beautiful_ his human is?  
  
It’s like he has watched, but never **seen** him before now.  
  
"Hey," he says, sure his face looks flushed and ridiculous.  
  
"Hey, Jared." Jensen answers, rubbing his eyes, and smiling at him. "What time is it?"  
Jared looks at the big clock on the wall.  
  
"Almost seven."  
  
"Damn it!" Jensen jumps out exactly as Jared did no longer before. "I have to shower and get changed, my first class is at ten!" he starts collecting all his stuff, and Jared moves in to help; his hand touches Jensen's bare forearm and the electricity running through the contact startles him.  
  
He takes his hand back like Jensen's skin burned, and Jensen blinks, surprised by his reaction.  
_Quick, say something_ he thinks, and he speaks without thinking. "Why don't you drop by at my place? It's really close and you can shower and get changed."  
  
What possessed him to make him say that, Jared doesn't know.  
  
He just knows he needs time to fully understand what's happening to him, and he needs Jensen close for that. Besides, he can't let Jensen go home: Paddywhack's not there and he would be crushed.  
  
Eric's not home, and his place is next door to the shop; it will work perfectly, since he has the key for emergencies.  
  
Jensen looks doubtful.  
  
"But I also have to go home to feed my dog and let him out..." he objects.  
  
"I can do it for you, if you want me to?" Jared interrupts him, feeling the worst scumbag on the face of earth. "I don't start working until 3."  
  
Jensen's expression relaxes, and luckily he doesn't ask what the hell Jared is doing at school at 6 in the morning, then, because Jared doesn't know if he could lie again.  
  
"That would be great! Thanks, man, I really don't know how I'd managed without your help."  
Jared grins smugly at him.  
  
"As long as I'm around, nothing bad is gonna happen to you," he quotes.  
  
Jensen chuckles and nudges his shoulder. "Oh, shut up."  
  
***  
  
They walk side by side towards Eric's place, outside it’s still dark.  
  
Jared is overwhelmed: he has never seen the world at this time of the day, when it's still lazily waking up and the colours gain structure and depth.  
  
One of the things that has hit him the most has been dogs' inability to see colours.. Everything looks different in colour, and he turns towards Jensen to tell him something about it, but he stops abruptly in the middle of the road.  
  
Behind Jensen, the sun is starting to rise.  
  
Everything's bathed in light pink and orange, and the first rays of sun hit Jensen's hair so that it looks like golden butter.  
  
Jared opens and closes his mouth a couple of times, but he's unable to speak, too astounded by the miracle he's witnessing.  
  
Something strange is happening to him, and his vision gets blurred. He brings his hands to his cheeks and finds them wet; he rubs at them, embarrassed, but Jensen steps closer, looking intently at his face, worry plain clear in his eyes.  
  
"Jared, what's wrong? Are you in pain? Talk to me!"  
Jared swallows audibly. "The sun..." he clears his throat, even though the lump he feels there doesn't move. "..sunrise. I've never-I forgot how beautiful it can be."  
  
His eyes focus on the buildings and trees behind them once again, in awe at so much perfection, so he doesn't see Jensen getting _impossibly_ close to him.  
  
"Jared...." Jared looks immediately at him, eyes widening when he realizes Jensen is _there._  
  
"Yeah?" his voice trembles, tension crackling around them.  
  
Jensen's hands cup his face, removing the traces of tears with his thumbs, before standing on tip toes and lightly brushing Jared's lips with his. He steps back almost immediately, blushing furiously, and opens his mouth, probably to apologize or something like that, but Jared won't have any of it and for once he's going to put his instinct to good use.  
  
He grabs Jensen's neck and crushes their lips together again, this time with intention, and the contact quickly becomes desperate and wet, exactly as Jared wanted it (or well, how he thinks he would have wanted it if he'd known he could do _this_ with a human mouth, at least).  
  
He licks Jensen's lips, and with a soft moan he parts them, letting Jared explore the depth of his mouth. Jared doesn't have any kissing experience at all, but he's always been a fast learner; besides, he needs no pointers for an activity involving licking.  
  
They hastily part once the oxygen becomes a priority, but their forehead linger together while they try to recover their breath. "Woah," Jared mutters eventually.  
  
"Couldn't have said it better" Jensen agrees, squeezing his arm.  
  
They resume walking, unable to stop touching each other, but they don't talk about it.  
Jensen, because he's still trying to wrap his head around the fact that, holy fuck, he didn't just _made out_ with a **guy** , he also _liked_ it so much his body's having pretty interesting reactions to Jared's closeness; Jared, because he just _fudging_ kissed Jensen, and things will never be the same again.  
  
***  
  
It's Sunday afternoon and Jared is at the shop, talking to Eric about what happened on Friday.  
Eric looks at him with a resigned expression on his face, and that surprises Jared.  
"Are you....is everything ok?" he asks, confused by the man's reaction.  
  
"I'm not sure about it" Eric answers, crossing his arms on his chest. "Is it?"  
  
Jared sits down. "I don't understand what you mean."  
  
Eric sighs and sits next to him. He tries to scratch him behind his ear, but Jared moves away, like the gesture makes him uncomfortable.  
  
"This, Jared" he points out "this is what I mean. You don't have anything left of your doggy self."  
Jared thinks about it for a second, and has to admit the man's right.  
  
Eric grabs his wrist to get his attention back on him. "Listen, Jared, that's something you have to know. Do you remember what I used to tell you at the beginning, before Jensen came to get you?"  
  
Jared nods and quotes. _"When your human will find you, you'll know. It's a unique sensation, it's impossible to confuse with anything else."_  
  
Eric nods back, a sad smile flashing on his lips. "Well, that's not entirely true. What you feel for your owner, as a _dog_ , is something pure and absolute, and you won't ever feel it for anyone or anything else for as long as you live, but...there's another feeling that resembles it a lot, in the human world. Is called _love._ I didn't tell you anything about all of this before because I knew you wouldn't possibly get the difference."  
  
Jared opens his mouth to say he knows all about it, and he knows the difference, now, but Eric lifts his hand up and shuts him up. "You kissed him, right?"  
  
Jared can only nod again.  
  
"Why?"  
  
The question leaves him speechless. _Why did he?_ He didn't stop to think about it at the time.. "It just felt right," is the only answer he can honestly give.  
  
"That's what I thought."  
  
The realization hits him like a ton of bricks. "I-I love him" he mutters "God, Eric, I am _in love_ with him! I-I can't be..." He feels like crying.  
  
Eric gets closer to him and holds him awkwardly, patting his broad shoulders. "Come on, come on, it's ok," he tries to soothe him, but it doesn't seem to work.  
  
"How can I go back home? How can I be his _friend_ , either human or canine, when I know we can never be together?"  
  
"There's one possibility," Eric states, slowly. Jared's eyes, filled with tears, turn on him.  
"You see, that charm is not going to work forever. Actually, it wasn't even supposed to work this long. I suppose it did because you took it off during every weekend and only used it for half a day each time...anyway, the effects are going to either recede or become permanent. Meaning, you have to choose if you want to be a man or a dog."  
  
Eric's words are like a slap in the face.  
  
Jared's expression goes blank. How can he choose between two halves of what he is?  
Then he thinks about what Eric just said. He's not a puppy anymore. He's grown up more than he was probably supposed to, during the last few weeks, and he can't go back to what he was. He's not sure he wants to.  
  
His eyes tell his answer to Eric before he opens his mouth to speak, but Eric shakes his head.  
"Think about it, Jared: once you're transformed there's no turning back."  
  
Jared nods. "I want to be with Jensen," he says.  
  
"Does Jensen want to be with you?" The question hurts, but Jared gets its importance, and recalls the weekend.  
  
***

[](http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e187/marty_rurulove/?action=view&current=matty1.jpg)

[](http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e187/marty_rurulove/?action=view&current=matty1.jpg)

  
  
_Jared had only turned back to a puppy for a couple of hours when Jensen had got home.  
"Oh, Paddywhack, I'm so sorry I left you alone for so long!" He had apologized, petting him, but he had been -obviously- not mad and had licked his palm. Jensen had laughed.  
  
"What a great day!" Jensen had exclaimed, picking him up and dancing around the living room with him in his arms. Jared had complained a little, but had been overall quite happy at seeing his human that way.  
  
"You do remember the guy I told you about, right? Jared? The one that came by today to feed you?" Jared had yapped, excited, while Jensen had put him down and had sat on the floor next to him before continuing. "He was the one who woke me up this morning. I fell asleep in class, how embarrassing, right? Then he offered to let me take a shower and change clothes at his place, that, by the way, is next to the shop I took you from. He was so nice, puppy, really, then he started crying looking at the sunrise and....I couldn't help it."  
  
He had blushed furiously and had tried to look elsewhere, but Jared wouldn't have any of it and had put his paws on Jensen's knees, yapping loudly.  
  
Jensen had chuckled.  
  
"Ok, ok! I kissed him. And-he kissed me back. God, I think I've never been kissed that way. It was so raw, intense, passionate...I lost it then and there. I expected him to follow up on it when we got at his place, but he didn't even look at me while I got undressed; he made me **breakfast** while I was in the shower! It was almost carbonized and there was no salt, but still. He made it for me! Danneel never did."  
  
His eyes had grown sad for a second, then they had brightened up again focusing on Jared.  
"What do you think of him? Do you like him?"  
  
Jared had yapped and waggled his tail to show his appreciation for...himself? His head had hurt badly, but he wouldn't have changed it for the world.  
  
"Can't wait to see him on Monday."  
  
After that, they had spent the Saturday as they usually did, jogging in the park, late lunch and videogames. On Sunday, they had woken up late and as soon as Jensen had announced he was going to be out the whole afternoon, Jared had taken the opportunity of going to the shop and talk to Eric, who was probably back already._  
  
***  
  
Jared is sure about his choice.  
  
Jensen has demonstrated he's willing to start something between them, and that's more than Jared could have asked for.  
  
He turns towards Eric to confirm that yes, he's ready and he wants it, when his gaze stops on the people walking by on the other side of the street.  
  
There's Jensen.  
  
With a woman.  
  
He recognizes her immediately: the red hair, the soft curves of her body, the long fingers.  
"Danneel," he whispers, eyes open wide.  
  
Eric looks as well, and clenches his fists. "Jared, wait, maybe-"  
  
They start laughing, and Jensen's eyes wrinkle on the side, like it only happens when he's truly happy, and then-then she tiptoes close and kisses him lightly on the lips.  
  
He smiles at her and caresses her hair, before grabbing her arm and pulling her into the restaurant, still talking animatedly.  
  
Jared feels his little heart crack and break. He can hear the sound of its pieces scattering around in his chest. "You were right, Eric," he says, his voice cold and plain. "I guess he doesn't."  
  
His fingers tremble slightly when they go to unclasp his collar, but they are steady when they slide the ring out of it. Immediately everything shifts around him, and in a few seconds all the colours that surrounded him melt into a uniform grey.  
  
His eyes focus stubbornly on the floor, while Eric kneels next to him and put his collar back on. "I'm sorry, Jared, I'm so darn sorry" he whispers, scratching his neck.  
  
This time Jared lets him.  
  
***  
  
When Jensen gets home on Sunday night, after dinner time, there's no one waiting for him.  
He looks everywhere, he calls, but no answer.  
  
Paddywhack is gone.  
  
Jensen spends great part of the night walking around the neighborhood with a flashlight, calling his puppy's name, ringing at doors and asking if anyone has seen him.  
  
No one can help, though, and at some point someone shouts at him to go home and to let them go back to sleep.  
  
Rain starts to pour down on him, as Jensen sits out on the porch, wet and shivering, looking at the fat drops of rain that cover all his world, and he feels desperately alone. It’s like the sky's crying, too.  
  
He doesn't know how the puppy could have run away; the house was locked, and unless he was able to open the window, there was no way he could have gotten out.  
  
Jensen dries his face with a hand, trying to understand how a day perfect as the one he has had, has been turned upside down so fast.  
  
Without realizing it, he falls asleep on the porch, and it's the sunrise that wakes him up. He put a hand against his forehead to protect his eyes from the light, and it's then that he sees him: Paddywhack is slowly walking towards him.  
  
He's up and next to his puppy in a moment, scooping him from the floor and holding him tightly against his chest, speaking soft nonsense in his little ear and petting his soft wet fur to soothe him and stop his trembling.  
  
Jared is glad for the rain: if he's all wet, Jensen won't realize he's crying. He tried to leave, really, he tried, but he couldn't. The idea of not seeing his human hurt so fiercely deep in his chest that he couldn't do it and ended up going back. _I just wanted to be with you_ , he yelps, _I wanted to make you happy._  
  
Jensen can't understand him anymore, though, and simply keeps on caressing him, repeating that everything will be ok.  
  
***  
  
The night spent outside in the rain, chilled to the bones, causes Jared to get sick.. For almost two weeks he can't stand up, eats only to puke almost it all up afterwards, and can't sleep.  
  
The vet is worried for him, says that maybe the dog caught pneumonia, and he could be too little to make it, but Jensen doesn't give up on him.  
  
Keeps him warm, feeds him and clean him up when he pukes on himself, never complaining.  
In one of his few moments of lucidity, Jared realizes Jensen looks sad again. He doesn't smile, he doesn't say things are going to be ok anymore, his face is pale and there are deep black shadows under his eyes.  
  
Jared knows he keeps him awake for a great part of the night, but still...something's off with him.  
  
Besides, he hasn't seen Danneel around since that fateful Sunday; then he remembers..  
  
Danneel hates dogs. As long as he's there, they'll never get back together for real, and if for a second he wishes to be able to keep them apart forever, he feels selfish and mean the second after.  
  
Jensen deserves to be happy. So, Jared does his best to get healthy again, so that this time he can leave for good and free Jensen.  
Finally he starts to get better, he can eat a little more and is a little bit more aware of his surroundings.  
  
The first night he gets on the couch with Jensen to watch the show his human loves, Jensen rewards him with a small smile, the first in so many days, and Jared has to know. He yaps.  
"What's wrong, puppy? You hurt somewhere?" Jensen asks, concerned, but Jared shakes his head, licks his palm and yaps again, pushing a paw on Jensen's cheek.  
  
It works: Jensen chuckles, before his eyes cloud up again and he hugs him. "Oh, Paddywhack, looks like we're all alone again."  
  
His voice cracks a little and Jared is worried. He licks his palm once more. "He left. Just like that. One day he was there, and we had all the time in the world, and then, when I go back to the faculty, they tell me he's gone. Without a word, without a note. He simply went and took off, like he was never there to begin with."  
  
Jared doesn't understand. Of course he left, there was no reason for him to stay anymore.  
Jensen sniffles, and a tear runs down his cheek. "Maybe I did something wrong, you know. Maybe I scared him away, or maybe he got his intelligence back and realized what a pathetic loser I was, but-" he hiccups, not even trying to stop himself anymore, "-God, I think I was in love with him. And now he'll never know."  
  
Jared's eyes open wide. **WHAT?!**  
  
Jensen relaxes against the back of the couch and sighs. "I wanted to tell him. I wanted to invite him to dinner and tell him that I know I'm not the safest bet, that I have a crushed wedding behind me and a family that will probably disown me when they'll find out I'm gay, that I have awful people skills and I'm unable to make friends, but that I really hoped he'd give us a chance anyway, because I knew we could make it, together. I wanted to tell him that he's so darn smart he can do what he wants with his life, and I don't understand why he's working as a janitor instead, but that I'd support him if that's what he wanted to do...."  
  
Jensen hides his face in his hands. "I wanted to hold him and never let him go."  
  
Jared stares into space, unable to tolerate the view of his human breaking at the seams because of him, but still confused. What about Danneel? And that kiss? They were happy together, so _why_?  
  
Like he has heard Jared's thoughts, Jensen goes on. "And you know what the most absurd thing of all is? I found support in the last person I would have expected. Danneel listened to me and actually understood; she said she expected it, and just didn't have the heart of breaking the truth to me; she knew it was going to come out sooner or later. She said that if I had needed anything I would just have had to ask her, that she loved me, she always did and would always be there for me.. She wanted to meet him."  
  
Jensen stands up and turns off the tv. "Sorry puppy, I'm not in the mood for the show, tonight. I think I'll go to bed." He kisses Jared's head and leaves the living room, turning off the lights. Jared stays still in the darkness, thinking.  
  
Eric's the only one who can maybe do something; even though he said that his decision would be permanent, Jared has to try.

TBC


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I Wanna Learn All Your Lips Can Teach Me, One Kiss Will Do At The Start: I'm Sure That, With A Little Homework, I'll Graduate To Your Heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look up part 1, bitches.

[](http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e187/marty_rurulove/?action=view&current=BANNERFIC.png)

Jared stares at the empty lot where there used to be the shop and Eric's house. The whole building has been tore down, and only ruins remain.

He runs like crazy through them, moving pieces of wood, metal and bricks, looking for something, anything that could help him, and finally he sees it. The cabinet.

It’s broken, but still mostly intact, so he opens it with a paw, hoping-

And there it is. The ring is still inside, shining under the streetlight.

Jared takes it through his teeth and starts working on his collar with his paws, trying to unclasp it, but it's impossible. _How I miss my opposable thumbs!_ He thinks, ruefully.

There's a noise to his side, and he abruptly turns his head in that direction. "Hey, what are you doing here? Are you a stray dog?"

The man approaches him, a net in his hands. Jared tries to bark, forgetting for a moment about the ring, and- _swallows it._

Jared's horrified, but doesn't have time to fully realize the meaning of it; he has to run, and that's what he does.

He has just turned a corner, when he collides with something and bounces back. "Ouch" he says, rubbing the back of his head with a hand.

- _Wait a moment_.

He-just _talked_! And-and he has _hands_ again!

He looks at himself and is greeted by never-ending legs, floppy hazel hair, long limbs.

He's Jared again.

"Welcome back," says a well-known voice, and Jared lifts his eyes to meet Eric's, who finally seems to smile in a carefree way.

"I guess the first choice was the right one, uh?" He states, stopping Jared when he starts to try and explain how everything really went down between him and Jensen. "It doesn't matter, Jared. Listen, I don't have much time: I just thought you'd need these," he adds, giving him a pair of jeans and a shirt.

Jared blushes realizing that once again he's butt naked in the middle of the street.. He gets dressed quickly and Eric nods at him, taking a pair of socks and sneakers from his bag.  
They look at each other for a moment, then they move towards each other and hug, tightly.  
"I really have to go, now." Eric says finally, stepping back.  
"Wait, I-thank you, Eric. I don't know what to say."

"Say you'll try not to mess this up," Eric answers, shaking a finger in front of his face.

"Where are you going to go?" Jared asks, grabbing the man's sleeve.

Eric shrugs. "Here and there. Maybe someday I'll pass by again." He collects his bag and puts it on his shoulder. "You can tell Jensen you're my nephew, and that after the building crumbled you had to take care of me and that's why you disappeared."

"I don't want to lie to him," Jared says, "not anymore."

Eric smiles at him and pats his shoulder. "Family doesn't end with blood, you know," he quotes.

Jared laughs, rubbing at his eyes, and when he looks up, Eric's gone.

He stares at the empty space where he was standing for a handful of seconds, then turns and runs towards Jensen's house.

***

A repetitive ringing sound forces Jensen to wake up. It takes him a moment to realize it’s his doorbell.. He looks at his alarm clock and groans: who the hell could be ringing at his door at 7 o'clock of Saturday morning?!

Not bothering to get dressed, he stomps to the door wearing just his sweatshirt and an old pair of boxer briefs.

He slams the door open. "Didn't your momma ever teach you that normal people are still sleeping at this-" Words and anger die in his throat when he recognizes the person standing at his doorstep.

"Hi, Jensen" Jared says, sheepish. "I know it's ridiculously early, and that you are probably really mad at me for disappearing like that, but..." he bites his lower lip and shows him a paper box. "I brought donuts as a peace offer. Can I come in?"

Jensen blinks a couple of times, but doesn't answer.

Jared sighs. He shouldn't have expected it to be easy; the guy loves him, but he did leave him, after all. "Look, Jensen, I've been through an awkward couple of weeks, but I want you to know I never meant to hurt you. I want your happiness more than anything else. I-I love you, Jensen."

Not receiving an answer, he extends a hand and touches Jensen's arm.

The guy jumps back.

"You-you're real?" Jensen stutters.

"Uh?"

Jensen blushes furiously. "Is just that-I've dreamed about you coming back so many times that I wasn't sure if this was a dream, too, and I thought that if it was I was going to be crushed, so-"

Jared steps forward and captures Jensen's mouth with his own, effectively saving the man from making a complete ass of himself.

Not that he would have minded, anyway.

~~END~~

_Eric: No, wait! There's still one more scene!_  
Trini:....whatever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**A FEW WEEKS LATER**

 

 

 

 

[](http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e187/marty_rurulove/?action=view&current=paddy.png)

 

 

 

 

Jensen looks inconsolable at the blue bone-shaped cushion on the floor, sighing. "I don't understand," he says.

Jared hugs him from behind, resting his chin on Jensen's head.

"Where can he be? I mean, we made fliers, we even had an ad in the local newspaper! How can a puppy just vanish this way?"

Jared feels something clench in his chest, like it happens every time Jensen talks about Paddywhack.

The puppy has obviously disappeared, and Jensen had been crushed by it. He tried everything to find him, but of course, with no luck.

"I never showed you my album, did I?" He asks, and Jared shakes his head.

He hates the fact that he can't tell Jensen the truth, but he'd never believe him so what's the point?

A strangled sound comes from the study, and Jared rushes over to check on Jensen: he finds him with the album open on the floor and a trembling finger pointing at it, while his mouth opens and closes without letting out a sound.

Jared looks at the album and all the colour leaves his face: they are all pictures of him and  
Jensen.

Not Paddywhack and Jensen.

_Jared_ and Jensen.

The biggest one shows Jared laying asleep on the floor, hugging the bone-shaped cushion.  
Jensen looks at him, confusion playing with shock on his features, and Jared swallows noisily.

"Jensen, there's something I have to tell you..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

END (for real XD)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Not Coming Down From:** [ HOME ](https://www.google.com/maps?q=HOME)  
> **Clawed Chained Heart:** accomplished  
>  **Under The Spell Of:** Le Fard "Prima di tradirmi"

**Author's Note:**

>  **Not Coming Down From:** [ HOME ](https://www.google.com/maps/search/HOME/@45.4095773,9.1158512,14z/data=!3m1!4b1)  
> **Clawed Chained Heart:** accomplished  
>  **Under The Spell Of:** Mario  & Nesti "Never say Goodbye"


End file.
